Do you listen to music while working on your programming project? Is it okay, helpful or a bad idea? Are you an enterprise developer and are you able to make this decision or are you forced to sit in a quiet environment or listen to your boss’ favorite radio program?
I recently discussed the topic, and I was not sure on which side to put myself. From time to time I like having a quiet environment which lets me focus on a problem and dive deep into the internals of any given code.
On other days, I like having music in my ears. Sometimes it helps me concentrate on a specific problem and helps me avoid other distractions.
In this article, I’m going to discuss the pros and cons of listening to music while programming. Some information is based on a bit of research, and I also give my own opinion on the topic.
Pro
Listening to music can help you get into the “zone”. It’s a powerful state most developers hit from time to time where the world seems to be irrelevant and the only thing that needs to be done is the problem you’re working on.
Music also helps you reduce the impact of the environment on you. If you’re working in an open space office or in a noisy restaurant it might be helpful to reduce the noise around you and by listening to music you have control over what you hear.
Music can motivate you to get things done. Sometimes you think hard about a problem and cannot decide on which solution fits best and you end up in a deadlock in your brain. Music can help you get things done. The nature of tracks ending and rhythms changing can urge your brain to make decisions. I do not have scientific evidence for this, but I once read about it and I think it’s true for me.
You can block off co-workers. Seriously, depending on your office situation it can be helpful to isolate you against people lurking around and asking you stupid things. I am all for working together as a team and if someone has an important question he or she can always approach me at my desk. But how often people stop by just to talk to you about their weekend and other non-work related things? It’s happened to me, and I am sure, it happened to you.
Contra
One of the most heard arguments against listening to music while working is that you get distracted from work. Indeed, if most of your day consists of changing tracks, adjusting volumes, managing your playlist, and finding the newest music to listen to, it can be a big distraction.
Some people also claim that your brain cannot do multiple things at once and therefore it is generally a bad idea to listen to anything while doing work.
Different types of music
An interesting topic is the type of music you listen. Usually, I listen to different music while working than I listen to while working out or doing something else in my free time. It is personal preference, but I have my logic why this might be a good thing.
First of all, I do not care about the music itself. If you listen to the new album of your favorite interpret, I am sure you want to catch more of it than just a few bits. Therefore, you should listen to it in your free time.
In general, music with fewer lyrics tends to work best for me. If there is too much singing or rapping going on my brains needs too much energy to absorb the lyrics.
Office rules
I am not a fan of rules. It is especially true when it comes to working. In my opinion, every person knows himself best and is mature enough to do the right thing at the right time. But some offices have rules about using headphones or listening to music.
If the rules fit you, perfect, if not, I would try to speak up about it and provide arguments on why listening to music would help you do your job better. Sometimes you do not have the freedom to decide. You either accept it, or you move on.
Randomly generated playlist
I like the Flow functionality of Deezer. It’s an algorithm which selects music tracks for you. I think it’s trained based on my playlists but also on the music I listened to in general on the platform. It creates a good mix of different music styles which can run in the background and which help me to focus on my work.
I do not have to change tracks, and there are also new tracks mixed-in which makes it enjoyable even after a few hours or weeks. There is always something new in there, while some of the well-known tracks will be repeated over a few days.
Music to code by
I have never tried it, but as a regular listener to the DotNetRocks podcast, I know about Carl Franklin’s Music to Code by project. I’ve heard many success stories from people listening to those tracks which are “scientifically designed to quickly get you into a state of flow and keep you there”.
As I wrote above, I have not tried it yet. Do you have any experience with it? Let me know in the comments below. It might be worth checking it out in the future. I like the idea behind the project.
Conclusion
There is no right or wrong. There is no yes or no. If it makes sense for you to listen to music while working, you should do it. Some people will benefit, others don’t.
In my opinion, it’s up to you, how you want to work. With music, or without. The only important thing is that you make your decision on your own and that you make the most appropriate decision. Everyone is different.
Maybe it makes sense to listen to music for specific tasks while it’s best for you to have absolute silence when working on something different? Who knows?
There is no general answer to the question of whether you should listen to music while programming or not.
Let me know in the comments below how you deal with listening to music while programming. I am curious about your experience!
Other Resources
- Medium: Is it fine to listen to music while coding
- Jaxenter: Why you should listen to music while coding
- Quora: Does listening to music while programming really increase a programmers performance?
This article was originally published on claudiobernasconi.ch on February 20th, 2019.
Oldest comments (53)
I spent a few months trying out different music streaming services and eventually settled on Google Play Music for their library size and compatibility -- however I did find that Deezer's Flow had the best predictive song algorithm.
If I need to focus on the music, it will distract me. Music I'm familiar with notably improves my performance. Listening to white noise is commonly prescribed to ADHD sufferers to help them focus and I once read a study that said listening to the same song on repeat had similar results. I believe this is the same effect that gives showers magical idea-generating and problem-solving abilities.
My personal rule is that if it requires focus and thought, listen to music. If it's just mindless autopilot work, listen to an audiobook and learn something.
"I believe this is the same effect that gives showers magical idea-generating and problem-solving abilities."
It seems like I'm not alone :-). Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the topic. There is no bulletproof solution which works for everyone. It's great to hear that you found something that works for you with Google Play Music.
/programming/stuff 2>&jazz
I usually have two things that seem to work for me.
There has to be something about classical music. You're not the first and undoubtedly not the last one to bring that genre up when it comes to focusing on programming work — excited to see that it works for you!
YouTube has a lot to offer for sure. But I share your opinion that it's hard to find really good long lasting compilations. Some of them are repetitious. Nonetheless, a great tip that could help some developers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I tend to concentrate really well for long periods of time but I kind of have to 'point' my brain towards what I want it to focus on, I find music helps me to isolate myself from the other crap going on. 😂
In my case, I think pretty much any music works for me, I just find something on YouTube Music and let it automatically play the next track but if I have a particularly hard challenge to solve, I do sometimes have to pause the music and talk myself through the problem though.
Sam, you seem to be in a very fortunate situation if you can use "whatever you like" as your music while programming. Take this advantage. Staying focused on a task is hard. You seem to deal with it with ease.
Silence. That's what I prefer.
I only play music when I have to cancel out other noise. The music I play is generally music from video games. This music was designed to be supportive of the environment rather than being in the foreground.
That's a great idea!
I have a very noisy environment at work which makes it hard for me to concentrate. Since I'm a total metal head I tend to listen to this stuff at work but it distracts me a bit too much. I'm going to try music from video games to listen to at work soon!
I'm also a fan of film/TV scores for this.
Great post Claudio!
For me, definitely yes!
I like to think regularly how music helps me to get into the right mood.
I think music allows me to create the correct mood for the work I need to do, adjust it a little or keep that mood I'm already in for long time.
For me the point is to pick the correct music for the correct task and the mood it requires. I have some playlists prepared to do the job.
I will choose my playlist depending on:
I'll pick the correct playlist to move my mood from the point I'm to the point I need to be.
If I'm so excited or anxious and I need to do a high decision tasks, I need to calm me down, some chilling music will do the job like solo piano calm songs, If I some sleepy but I need to have things done, some electronic will work great!
Sometimes is not possible for me to jump two steps of mood at a time. I need to play some in the middle for a while and after some time go for another step.
Related to types of music, instrumental music works very well for me and more lyrics songs only if I listened so many times that my brain doesn't pay attention to these lyrics.
And there's another thing that works very well for me. Silence! There are times that silence is the only thing that works for me!!
David, thanks for your detailed comment on how you deal with music and especially how you leverage music to transition from your current mood to a more productive mindset. Very inspiring comment.
Read a couple comments that highlighted the use of YouTube music while working... It seems to me that listening to YouTube, even though it gives you an infinite selection of songs, is not ideal, primarily due to the lots of advertisements. I am a high school student and I am sure that I do not spend as much time coding for personal projects as the professionals here, but still, many times I have found myself suddenly distracted by an annoying ad playing over and over again.
Also, I have some doubts on whether listening to your favorite artist is something that should be avoided while working;catching a phrase and clearing your mind for a couple minutes is an interesting recipe for increasing productivity...
I also think that YouTube is not the best solution for me, but if it works for others - why not? I also believe that the ads can distract and, depending on the playlist you find yourself skipping songs a lot which means distraction from your primary task.
Yeah, I most of the time do not listen to my favorite artists while programming. Again, this is personal preference, and I love reading all the comments about how people approach their programming sessions.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lamprinos.
It was my pleasure, Claudio, loved the article and the discussion that it sparked! 😉
It totally depends on what I'm working on...
New/Hard tasks
Repetitive/easy tasks
So I guess it all depends on the tasks for the day...
Appealing thought about when to listen to which genre. Great idea, thanks for sharing, Isreal!
I’ve always been a huge fan of brain.fm. It generates ambient music that helps you focus and it works bizarrely well. However, it’s definitely a little draining in a way that listening to your favorite soundtracks isn’t!
I've never heard of brain.fm. Thanks for sharing. I might give it a try to see if it's something for me.
Double up on brain.fm. One thing I really enjoy about this product is the music has a timer 30 mins, 1 hour, 2 hours. I utilize the timer to prevent myself from overworking and remind myself to take breaks =).